Why not...Learn Japanese?

[WeeMissRainBow]

Lesson 2: Who is it?

First, we should establish who you are. If you want to say "I am Sally." You would say: わたしはサリです。 わたし means 'I.' Wa (spelled with the character ha) is a particle which marks the subject of a sentence. It roughly means 'as for' so, the sentence translates to "As for me, I'm Sally." You can also just say "サリです。" which just means 'I am Sally.' Men and boys can also use the form "ぼくは ___ です。" ぼくalso means I, but is usually used by males. The word 'you' in Japanese is あなた, but be careful not to use it unless you're very familiar with someone as it is slightly personal. It's better to just use the person's name when referring to them.

I am Hana
わたしはハナです。
I am Mr./Ms Smith.
わたしはスミスです。
I am Hana.
ハナです。
I am Mr./Ms Smith.
スミスです。
I am John.
わたしはジョンです。
I am John.
ぼくはジョンです。

If you want to ask someone's name, you say "おなまえはなんですか。" なまえ means 'name'. The 'お' is added to make it honorific (used only for other people, not yourself). Remember from lesson one that 'なんですか' means what is it?' So the sentence literally means "As for your honorific name, what is it?" To tell someone your name, you can use the above replies or you can say 'なまえはハナです。' or 'わたしのなまえはハナです。' (Assuming your name is Hana.) The shorter form is usually used in less formal situations. The particle 'の' in this case is similar to the English " 's ". It indicates ownership. わたしのなまえ means "my name". あなたのなまえ would be 'your name.'

Examples:

What's your name?
おなまえはなんですか。

My name is Heather.
わたしのなまえはヘザーです。

My name is John.
なまえはジョンです。

What is the dog's name?
いぬのなまえはなんですか。

The dog's name is Spike.
いぬのなまえはスパイクです。


To ask "Who is it?" you say "だれですか。" だれ means 'who.' To ask "Whose is it?" you say "だれのですか。"


Who is it?
だれですか。
Whose is it?
だれのですか。

To indicate ownership of an object, the possessive 'の' particle is used.


Examples:

Whose dog is it?
だれのいぬですか。
It's my dog.
わたしのいぬです。

Whose cat is it?
だれのねこですか。
It's mine.
わたしのです。

Whose cat is it?
だれのねこですか。
It's Susan's cat.
スザンさんのねこです。

Is it yours?
あなたのですか。
No, it's Mike's.
いいえ、マイクさんのです。

Lesson 2 Vocabulary:

I
わたし
I (used by males only)
ぼく
you
あなた
who
だれ
subject marker particle (pronounced wa)
は
possesive particle ('s)
の
prefix added to some words to make them honoriffic
お
name
なまえ
dog
いぬ
cat
ねこ

------------------------------------------------------

Kanji a Day!

Today's Kanji is:花 Hana! This is the Japanese word for flower. Not to be confused with the Kanji 鼻 Hana. The Japanese word for Nose.  

[WeeMissRainBow]

Lesson 3: I am Japanese.

The word for Japan in Japanese is にほん. (Or にっぽん) に means sun and ほん means root. So, にほん means "origin of the sun" thus Japan is also known as the "Land of the Rising Sun."

There are several words for 'person' in Japanese. ひと is the noun 'person.' If you wanted to say "Who is that person?" you would say "あのひとはだれですか。" あの means 'that over there.' (This will be discussed more in Lesson 4.) Likewise, one says おんなのひと for 'woman' and おとこのひと for 'man.' These mean 'female person' and 'male person' and are much more polite than just saying おんな or おとこ which sound insulting alone.

The other two ways of indicating people are the suffixes -にん and -じん. Adding the suffix -じん to the name of a country makes the name of the nationality of that country. にほんじん means 'Japanese person.' We will discuss the use of -にん later.

Similarly, one can add the suffix -ご to the end of a country word and it becomes the language of the country. Note that there are exceptions to this as some countries share common languages.

Examples:
Country People Language
Japan にほん にほんじん にほんご

The U.S. アメリカ アメリカじん えいご

Australia オーストラリア オーストラリアじん えいご

Canada カナダ カナダじん えいご/フランスご

England イギリス イギリスじん えいご

Lesson 3 Vocabulary:
Japan
にほん
person
ひと
suffix added to country to describe nationality
-じん
suffix added to country to describe language
-ご
Japanese language
にほんご
English language
えいご


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kanji a day!

Todays Kanji is: 日 Hi. The Japanese word for sun. =3